all made up with nowhere to go

I listened to seven episodes of Welcome to Night Vale yesterday, more or less in row, so I think I'm qualified to talk about it a little bit, and at least explain wtf it is.

It is a podcast in the guise of a community radio transmission. Night Vale is a small town/city in one of the desert states in America (I know in the US the word city doesn't necessarily mean it's a great sprawling mass, and I assume the word is used in this sense here, although who the hell knows. It's not important). It is a place where strange things happen. All the freaking time. But it's just daily life for the people who live there.

The creators describe it as a place where all conspiracy theories are true. And this is accurate, although not all the stuff they use would be classified as one, but that's the general gist.

People on the internet seem to describe it as Lovecraft meets Lake Wobegone. Two things here: 1. My knowledge of Lovecraft is sparse, but I'd expect more shadowy figures/dark rituals/tentacles. 2. I don't know Lake Wobegone, so I don't get that reference. In fact, all I've picked up about it is that it's narrated by Garrison Keillor, and I only know him as the voice of UK Toyota ads from a few years ago. So I don't understand this description, or why it keeps coming up.

My general opinion is that it's OK. It makes me laugh in places, but I don't think it's the best thing since sliced bread. I also don't hate it, either. It's good to have on in the background while you're doing other stuff, which I think is part of the intention. I also like the proverbs at the end.

The narrator - Cecil - doesn't have the most wonderful voice (he describes it as smooth and sonorous at one point, and I'm inclined to disagree on both points). That's not to say you can't listen to him. I've heard worse voices than his. In fact, I started following Night Vale's twitter (which I think I may have done even if I didn't like the show, because the out of context tweets amuse me), and now I hear all the tweets in his voice in my head.

I found the first episode a bit of a drag, but it improves after that. (Each episode is between 20 and 25 minutes long, by the way).

I think you would like it if you like weird things? Like the X-Files, and maybe Twin Peaks (I haven't seen that, so I can't say for sure, but from what I know about the series?) Or if you're just interested in unexplained phenomena (but not to the point where you believe it to be real). (Also that doesn't describe it adequately, either, because there's some stuff - like a dragon - that is obviously from myths/stories).

This is the official website, and I downloaded the podcasts from here, although if you check out the main page, it gives you a variety of sources to download from.

P.S. Do Americans always pronounce Cecil as "see-sil"? Because I knew it happened, and that's the first time I actually heard it and...yeah...